Where to live near Boise? Ca resident (Nampa, Meridian: car registration, houses)

[izzy]

Hi,

We live about two hours from Tahoe in the foothills. We are thinking of relocating to Idaho. Boise Area. Been looking at homes on line. What is the area like? High desert? Foothills with pines near by? Small towns near Boise? Best Schools? We don't want to be too far from Boise because of work. But would like to live in a rural area. Good schools. Hoping for some foothills and trees

We saw good prices in cadwell, eagle looks interesting. But I know nothing about the area. What about north of Boise? Any foothills within...30 to 40 minutes of Boise?

Thanks for any help you can give me.

Izzy

[cleosmom]

I'm on the other side of the state, but when you factor where you want to live, don't forget to add time for winter commute

[pinkpalace]

There's been a lot of discussion about different towns, so I'd do a search for these towns and see if it answers some of your questions:

Boise: good, but not rural
Nampa: mixed (I say it's good, others disagree). more suburb than rural
Caldwell: not so good
Eagle: very nice, but pricey. kinda suburb/rural mix
Meridian: good, but lots of growth/sprawl. more suburb than rural
Star: nice, smaller town. rural area
Emmett: might be ok, longer commute. rural
Kuna: might be ok, longer commute. rural
Horseshoe Bend: nice, rural, nasty commute in the winter (hilly)

The whole area is high desert. There are patches of trees, but for the most part they were either planted by someone, or they follow the Boise river. If lots of trees are important, then look to northern Idaho (Coeur d'Alene, Lewiston, etc.)

oh, and the foothills are within 15 minutes north of Boise. Bogus Basin is 30-45 minutes away from Boise, if you're in to skiing.

[izzy]

Hi,

I did as you suggested and did a search on the towns you mentioned. Seems that most folks from the bosie area all agree about eagle. I went and checked the prices. Their prices are about the same as our area in Ca.

3BR, 2BA, 1600 sq ft. less than ten years old are about $375,000. - $425,000. on about a half acre. Foothills with oak trees. Is what it will get you here.

I'm checking star and some of the others you mention. I think we would like Horseshoe bend. But I don't want my husband to have a bad commute.

He has 30 years in his field of work and there are not too many folks who do what he does. Forklift mechanic, both electric and gas. He has companies head hunting him here. I don't think he will have a problem getting a job there. We checked and wages for him with his years of experience would be in the $18. an hour range.

I mention this because so much of what I have read on this site so far. Talks about low paying jobs. And the LDS church. Well, we are LDS. It is funny but here we are in a melting pot of religions. So I don't think about fitting in that way. We all just respect each others choice and it has never come into play when making friends. Is it really an issue in Idaho?

Is there a town between Horseshoe bend and Boise that might fit our needs without the ugly winter commute?

Thanks for all your help. I will be researching things for a while. We want this to be our last move. So we are doing our homework.

Catch you later,

Izzy

[cleosmom]

If he works on forklifts anywhere from SE Idaho through south central could be options as well. Not that you'll have the pine trees, but there are tons of "spud houses" and trust me forklifts galore!

I know that in IF, Blackfoot and I think near Twin Falls there are Case/Pioneers dealers along with Implements and John Deere.

[izzy]

Thank you for all the info. it is hard to find out things when you're ten hours away. I'm going to go check out the cities you talked about.

Thanks

Izzy

[pinkpalace]

Originally Posted by izzy

Hi,

I did as you suggested and did a search on the towns you mentioned. Seems that most folks from the bosie area all agree about eagle. I went and checked the prices. Their prices are about the same as our area in Ca.

3BR, 2BA, 1600 sq ft. less than ten years old are about $375,000. - $425,000. on about a half acre. Foothills with oak trees. Is what it will get you here.

I'm checking star and some of the others you mention. I think we would like Horseshoe bend. But I don't want my husband to have a bad commute.

He has 30 years in his field of work and there are not too many folks who do what he does. Forklift mechanic, both electric and gas. He has companies head hunting him here. I don't think he will have a problem getting a job there. We checked and wages for him with his years of experience would be in the $18. an hour range.

I mention this because so much of what I have read on this site so far. Talks about low paying jobs. And the LDS church. Well, we are LDS. It is funny but here we are in a melting pot of religions. So I don't think about fitting in that way. We all just respect each others choice and it has never come into play when making friends. Is it really an issue in Idaho?

Is there a town between Horseshoe bend and Boise that might fit our needs without the ugly winter commute?

Thanks for all your help. I will be researching things for a while. We want this to be our last move. So we are doing our homework.

Catch you later,

Izzy

It would be worth it to check out Horseshoe Bend, anyway. There's really only one way from Boise to Horseshoe Bend and back, and it's a steep, windy state highway. But, the winters have been getting milder, and if you fall in love with the place, you'll kick yourselves for vetoing it just because of some bad weather a few months out of the year.

There really isn't any town between Horseshoe Bend and Boise (at least, not right now... Boise's growing quickly)

The LDS thing won't be a problem in Idaho, as it's the dominant religion.

I've never lived in California, but from what I've heard from others, everything -- property taxes, car registration, gas, utilities, food -- will be much cheaper in Idaho.

[izzy]

Yes, most likely everything here is higher. Just give you some samples. Our house payments are $2,400. a month before impounds. Property taxes run about $2,500. a year. Gas is $3.20 a gal., it is down right now. Utilities run about $350. in the summer. We had some 113 degree days this summer. Run the air a lot. Food if I shop at the cheap stores. About $125. a week for a family of five. Cars are the biggest expense next to homes. I just bought a cheap car, used, one year old, $15,000. Mini Vans run about $26,000. without the extras.

I have a friend with a suburban. A tank of gas is $100. Our van $70. We live in a less expensive area and our home just appraised for $400,000. 3 br, 2 ba, .6 acres.

Can you give some of the same kind of comparisons for Idaho. In general?

Thanks,

Izzy

[cleosmom]

Originally Posted by izzy

Yes, most likely everything here is higher. Just give you some samples. Our house payments are $2,400. a month before impounds. Property taxes run about $2,500. a year. Gas is $3.20 a gal., it is down right now. Utilities run about $350. in the summer. We had some 113 degree days this summer. Run the air a lot. Food if I shop at the cheap stores. About $125. a week for a family of five. Cars are the biggest expense next to homes. I just bought a cheap car, used, one year old, $15,000. Mini Vans run about $26,000. without the extras.

I have a friend with a suburban. A tank of gas is $100. Our van $70. We live in a less expensive area and our home just appraised for $400,000. 3 br, 2 ba, .6 acres.

Can you give some of the same kind of comparisons for Idaho. In general?

Thanks,

Izzy

Let's see we're in a 3 bed 1 bath ranch home in SE Idaho, bought in 2002 for $77,000 (recently appraised at $98,000)

I drive a 2002 Toyota Camry which costs me around $30.00 to fill up- unlead is running $2.89 a gallon here. I do my mom's monthly shopping for under $150.00 at the Super Wal-Mart.

I get my hair shampooed, cut, highlighted and styled for $35.00

Summer power bill right around $60, Winter closer to $100. We're not on natural gas so I can't help you there.

Dinner for husband and I at our favorite Mexican rest. is usually between $15-$20

Two cars on full coverage under $100 and we don't have to do smog certification here.

[pinkpalace]

Boise area is similar, but a little higher than SE Idaho.

A 4 BR 2 BA, ~2300 sq ft home runs around $179,000 and up. Property taxes can vary. Boise and Eagle will be the most expensive, and will probably be pretty close to what you're paying now. If you have an address or a subdivision, you can look up Ada county (Boise, Eagle, Star) property taxes here: http://www.adacountyassessor.org/propsys/index.jsp

Horseshoe Bend and Emmett will be cheaper, I'm pretty sure.

Electricity runs between 7c/kwh and 9c/kwh. Our highest electric bill was maybe $120 during the summer. Our highest natural gas bill was around $90, during the winter. (Natural gas furnace and water heater, electric AC)

Ada county DOES do smog certification, but it's more of a hassle than an expense. It runs about $12 per year to have some guy stick a sniffer in your exhaust and say "yep! you pass!"

Highest car registration I've ever paid (in Idaho) was around $80 for a new car.